Which heart are you?

The Parable of the Sower
1That same day Jesus went out of the house and sat beside the sea.2And great crowds gathered about him, so that he got into a boat and sat down. And the whole crowd stood on the beach.3And he told them many things in parables, saying: “A sower went out to sow.4And as he sowed, some seeds fell along the path, and the birds came and devoured them.5Other seeds fell on rocky ground, where they did not have much soil, and immediately they sprang up, since they had no depth of soil,6but when the sun rose they were scorched. And since they had no root, they withered away.7Other seeds fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked them.8Other seeds fell on good soil and produced grain, some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty.9He who has ears, [fn1] let him hear.”

The Purpose of the Parables
10Then the disciples came and said to him, “Why do you speak to them in parables?”11And he answered them, “To you it has been given to know the secrets of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been given.12For to the one who has, more will be given, and he will have an abundance, but from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away.13This is why I speak to them in parables, because seeing they do not see, and hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand.14Indeed, in their case the prophecy of Isaiah is fulfilled that says:

“‘You will indeed hear but never understand,
and you will indeed see but never perceive.
15For this people's heart has grown dull,
and with their ears they can barely hear,
and their eyes they have closed,
lest they should see with their eyes
and hear with their ears
and understand with their heart
and turn, and I would heal them.’

16But blessed are your eyes, for they see, and your ears, for they hear.17Truly, I say to you, many prophets and righteous people longed to see what you see, and did not see it, and to hear what you hear, and did not hear it.

The Parable of the Sower Explained
18“Hear then the parable of the sower:19When anyone hears the word of the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what has been sown in his heart. This is what was sown along the path.20As for what was sown on rocky ground, this is the one who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy,21yet he has no root in himself, but endures for a while, and when tribulation or persecution arises on account of the word, immediately he falls away. [fn2] 22As for what was sown among thorns, this is the one who hears the word, but the cares of the world and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word, and it proves unfruitful.23As for what was sown on good soil, this is the one who hears the word and understands it. He indeed bears fruit and yields, in one case a hundredfold, in another sixty, and in another thirty.”


What a privilige to be given the "secrets of the kingdom of heaven"! The One who created the heavens and the earth, Who breathed life into the nostrils of man, The One who controls the winds and the waves sat before them unveiling the mysteries of the human heart! Who but God alone who made the heart would know it's own decietfullness and fraility. As we read in this next parable, entitled in most bibles as the parable of the sower, we see four types of hearts respond to the Word of the Kingdom of God.

Just as Jesus says, He uses parables because the hearts of the people have grown dull. What makes a heart dull? Sin.
Lam 5: 15The joy of our hearts has ceased;
our dancing has been turned to mourning.
16The crown has fallen from our head;
woe to us, for we have sinned!17For this our heart has become sick,
for these things our eyes have grown dim,

Sin has marred the once perfect heart that was created to worship Him alone. But now because sin has entered the human heart, man's only inclination is evil and self-worship. Therefore, Jesus speaks to them in parables knowing full well He is speaking to four types of hearts as described in the parable....The one with no understanding...The one with no foundation....The one with no love for God.....and the one hears and understands.

Notice all three have had the opportunity to hear the Word of the Kingdom. They have heard God's magnificent plan for man's salvation in HIs Son Jesus Christ. The first one heard and did not understand...and with no time to waste the devil snaches out the Good Seed from his heart so that he persists in responding hostile towards God for he is bound to his folly and ignorant of his destruction. Imagine years of rejection towards the Word of the Kingdom, and eventually the heart grows all the more dull and cold towards it.
Luk 13:34 "O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it! How often would I have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you would not!

THe next two soils to me seem similar in that they both listened to the Word and received it, and for a short while looked like they were growing until something happened to cause them to turn away.

The seed that fell on rocky ground was one with no depth of soil.

Soils that are deep, well-drained, and have desirable texture and structure are suitable for the production of most garden or landscape plants. Deep soils can hold more plant nutrients and water than can shallow soils with similar textures. Depth of soil and its capacity for nutrients and water frequently determine the yield from a crop, particularly annual crops that are grown with little or no irrigation. Plants growing on shallow soils also have less mechanical support than those growing in deep soils. Trees growing in shallow soils are more easily blown over by wind than are those growing in deep soils. (http://ag.arizona.edu/pubs/garden/mg/soils/depth.html)

What does that mean then? What kind of a heart is He speaking about..."with no depth of soil?" How is deep soil attained?
Luk 6:49 "But the one who hears and does not do them is like a man who built a house on the ground without a foundation. When the stream broke against it, immediately it fell, and the ruin of that house was great."


This man hears the word of the Kingdom, but chooses not to do what is asked. He just simply rejects it. Now it seems as though he is a receiver of the world when the seed is sown as it immediately springs forth from the ground (Jesus uses the word JOY which I percieve may have been an emotional conversion experience), but when certain tribulation and persectuion arrizes on account of the Word, just as quickly as he had grown, he quikcly falls away from the faith.

Last year I met a woman who for a time attended church, and recieved the Word with joy probably at first. But then when calamity struck she questioned why God would allow her to suffer, and she when I had asked her about her faith she replied she no longer loved God. This woman is suffering in hell now for several months later her life ended in a car wreck. She was soil with no depth.

The next heart was a heart that reflects many people in my own life. These hearts love their lives...love this world. The cares of the world and the lies of riches produces unfruitfullness. 1 John says, "the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is NOT of the Father, but is of the world." What terrible bait that Satan uses to trap vunerable hearts...."I will give you this....if you will bow down and serve me...." The very words that he used to tempt our dear LORD in the desert. Often it takes a terrible thing to occur to open the eyes of a person to their own depravity and hopelessness.

As for myself, it was easier for me to seek God when I had lost love, friends, and financial stability. I believe that is why Jesus says in all three gospels:

Mat 19:24 "Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God."
Mar 10:25 "It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God."
Luk 18:25 "For it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God."

Lastly there is the fourth response, the good soil. From 2 chr 7:14 I came up with what a heart looks like in comparison to good soil, and it is this: humility, brokeness, seeking God, and TRUE repentance. John says, "we litterally become sons of God" when we recieve Him. This is the soil that produces grain, some a hudnredfold, some sixty, some thirty.

Even Job had to realize this when he lost everything all at once...."5I had heard of you by the hearing of the ear,
but now my eye sees you;
6therefore I despise myself,
and repent in dust and ashes.”

This is true repentance...and it is ONLY the broken heart that makes good soil. Think about the actually physcial process real soil has to go through in order to make it useful to the sower! Likewise for us our hearts must be absolutely shattered when we hear the Word of the Kingdom in order that the sower, The Great Physician may as Israel cried out in Lamentations...Restore us to yourself, O Lord , that we may be restored! Renew our days as of old-- .

Psa 32:1 Blessed is the one whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered.
Rom 4:7 "Blessed are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven, and whose sins are covered;

What sin has marred, Christ has restored. Blessed be to the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world! Alleluiah!

The Parable of the Wheat and the Tares Matthew 12:24-30

YOUR BEST LIFE IS NOT RIGHT NOW!!!!!

24He put another parable before them, saying, “The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a man who sowed good seed in his field,25but while his men were sleeping, his enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat and went away.26So when the plants came up and bore grain, then the weeds appeared also.27And the servants of the master of the house came and said to him, ‘Master, did you not sow good seed in your field? How then does it have weeds?’28He said to them, ‘An enemy has done this.’ So the servants said to him, ‘Then do you want us to go and gather them?’29But he said, ‘No, lest in gathering the weeds you root up the wheat along with them.30Let both grow together until the harvest, and at harvest time I will tell the reapers, Gather the weeds first and bind them in bundles to be burned, but gather the wheat into my barn.’” Matt 13
What are tares you may ask? Tares are weedy plants that are unwelcomed and objectionable elements. In this parable the Lord revealed a great truth to me that I hope will encourage you too. Upon reading this I had several questions, each one so faithfully answered by Jesus Himself in verses 36 - 43
36Then he left the crowds and went into the house. And his disciples came to him, saying, “Explain to us the parable of the weeds of the field.”37He answered, “The one who sows the good seed is the Son of Man.38The field is the world, and the good seed is the children of the kingdom. The weeds are the sons of the evil one,39and the enemy who sowed them is the devil. The harvest is the close of the age, and the reapers are angels.40Just as the weeds are gathered and burned with fire, so will it be at the close of the age.41The Son of Man will send his angels, and they will gather out of his kingdom all causes of sin and all law-breakers,42and throw them into the fiery furnace. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.43Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father. He who has ears, let him hear.
Who is the man? The Son of Man...Jesus.
Whom are the good seed? The sons of the kingdom
Who are the tares? The sons of the wicked one.
Who is the enemy who sowed them? The devil.
What day is the harvest? At the end of the age.
Who are the servants (reapers)? His angels.
Whom is the field? The world.
So then if the good seed represents the sons of the kingdom, then what of the wheat that sprouts forth from it?
In John Jesus tells His disciples, “I tell you the truth, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds.”
The wheat that sprout out from the good seed represents the fruitful life that was produced from the death of the broken seed! Notice that the good seed has no choice on where it will land in the field (the world) and that it is the sower (Jesus) who appoints where it lands. Yet it is the good seed (son of the Kingdom) that has the choice to die.
What does this mean? Jesus says quite plainly in John 12 verse 25...”He who loves his life will lose it, but he who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life.”
Do you see what Jesus is saying? All of us have a picture of how we want our life. And naturally we desire less tribulation and more ease. We want more pleasure and less persecution. We want instant rewards over longsuffering. Yet when a man gets what he wants (and loves his life) Jesus says he will eventually lose it. (Did not Solomon once describe mans life is but a shadow?). Oh but the man who hates his life (never seems to get what he wants, always has to climb a little higher than everyone else, always seems to get the shorter end of the stick, is always seeming to be last in line........) IT IS THIS MAN WHO when all his desires eventually die (when Jesus increases and we decrease to almost nothing) that a bountiful stalk of wheat is produced. And yet we know it does not occur quickly but slowly and gradually it is produced....and the reward?
Jesus says in verse 26, “26If anyone serves me, he must follow me; and where I am, there will my servant be also. If anyone serves me, the Father will honor him.
Jesus says, “THE FATHER will HONOR him!” There is another parable about three men whom a master entrusted certain talents to. And to the faithful stewards the masters words always echo in my ears, “Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master's happiness!'
(Notice that in the parable in Matt 12, during the time of harvest, that the wheat is gathered and brought into his barn.)
Be mindful that it is the enemy who had sown tares (sons of the wicked one) among the wheat, so that explains the battle of the life of the sons of the kingdom verse the sons of the wicked one. Yet we know to the one that is yielded to Jesus (Abiding in Him) he shall bear much fruit...it is promised.

Are you willing to die to your ideal life?

My new years resolution is.....

2To know wisdom and instruction,
to understand words of insight,
3to receive instruction in wise dealing,
in righteousness, justice, and equity;
4to give prudence to the simple,
knowledge and discretion to the youth—
5Let the wise hear and increase in learning,
and the one who understands obtain guidance,
6to understand a proverb and a saying,
the words of the wise and their riddles.

7The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge;
fools despise wisdom and instruction.

This year I want to do something I am ashamed to admit...but here goes. I am going to make a goal and attempt to accomplish it this year. I am not sure if it will take me a whole year, nor am I sure if it may even take longer. All I know is that I want to begin a new chapter in my life that involves a beginning and an end. So my goal is to understand the parables of Jesus written in Scripture. The Bible is a goldmind to those who dive into it and seek it out. And so here I begin my journey through the precious pages of God's word to find wisdom and instruction!